


The Aftermath

by ArgentSleeper



Series: Episode AUs [10]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e12-13 The Coming of Arthur, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 05:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3597873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentSleeper/pseuds/ArgentSleeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Camelot has been retaken, but the work doesn't end there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the5leggedCricket](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the5leggedCricket/gifts).



> I have to start out with three big thanks. First to 5leggedcrickets for the prompt, and then to deadpendragon and Vaughntronic for the beta work!
> 
>  
> 
> Flash summary for those who haven't seen the episode in a while: The sisters have the Cup of Life/immortal army, and they capture Camelot and Uther. Arthur and his peasants-turned-knights free Uther from the cells while Merlin and Lancelot are supposed to take out the warning bell. Instead they take out the Cup and Morgause. Morgana screams down the place. The plot of this fic starts almost immediately after.

Arthur was torn.

Okay, not really.  He was quite firmly on the side of furious, but there was that faint nagging in the very back of his head that said now was not the time to express his feelings.

At least he did have other, far more important things to put his efforts towards.  Leon had taken the king to his chambers to be seen by Gaius once he’d been fetched from the ruins.  There were still others who also needed the aid of a physician.  Arthur wasn’t so arrogant to believe none of his knights had been injured.  From the stories Guinevere and Leon had told him there may have been injuries in the lower town as well.  That would have to be his first priority.

“Elyan!” he beckoned his newest knight, who came forward immediately, gently cradling his slashed arm.  “I need you to fetch the physician from the lower town. He lives four houses down from the smithy.  Tell him he can bring any patients he currently has up to the castle, but I want him set up to treat casualties in the west hall as soon as possible.  Get yourself fixed up as well.  Then if you can manage to find that useless idiot, tell Merlin to avail himself to the acting physician.”

There, that would keep the subject of his wrath out of his sight until Arthur could punish him in a calm and rational manner.

“Yes, sire!” Elyan scurried off to do as he was bid.  Arthur just prayed this wouldn’t be one of his last acts as an official knight of Camelot.  Keeping his new men was going to be a long fight with his father once this was all over.

The well-being of his people taken care of, Arthur focused on securing his kingdom.  The –dissolving? disintegration?– of Morgause’s army strongly suggested that she had fled or been killed, but there was no point in taking chances.  He divided his men and sent them to all corners of the citadel to search for the witch.

He himself headed the group that went in the direction of the warning bell.  Angry as he was, there was that terrible nagging again that suggested perhaps it hadn’t been gross incompetence that prevented his idiot manservant from completing his task but something more serious.  But he quickly dismissed that as ridiculous.  All Merlin and Lancelot had had to do was take out the bell and then _not get caught_.  They could run and hide if they pleased until the freed knights joined them.

No one was around the very intact warning bell.  Arthur hadn’t expected there to be, really, because they should have come to find him once the fighting was over, but there wasn’t even any sign the two had been there to attempt disabling the bell in the first place.

The nagging got a little stronger.

As they continued their search, signs of destruction caught Arthur’s eye.  Signalling his men to tread carefully, they turned into the chamber.   _There_ was Lancelot, struggling to shift rubble with one arm while the other was bandaged and suspended in a sling.  The room was destroyed, columns and chunks of the ceiling piled everywhere.

“Sire!”  Lancelot stood to attention as he spotted them.  “Morgause and Lady Morgana were here.  Morgause was injured, possibly killed, and the lady Morgana did magic to bring the place down around them.  I was attempting to discover if she managed to escape.”

Arthur waved to his knights to assist.  “What happened?  Why didn’t you make it to the bell?”

Lancelot couldn’t seem to look him in the eye as he spoke, clearly waiting to be punished for his actions. “We had to hide from several of the undead soldiers, and we stumbled across this room here.  Merlin recognized the Cup of Life as the source of the enchantment; so we fought our way through, and I was able to destroy it to break the spell.  That was when the sorceresses caught us and I dispatched Morgause.”

“Where’s Merlin?”

“Gaius followed us from the old ruins.  They are with the king by now, I assume.”

Arthur absolutely did _not_ breathe a sigh of relief.  “Good.  I see Gaius has already patched you up, so I need you to go organize the guards to reinforce our walls.  If they give you trouble, just tell them you’re acting under my orders.”

“Yes, sire.”

“The rest of you stay here, and let me know immediately if you find anything.”

From then on it felt like Arthur never stopped.  Morgause may have been gone (and Morgana, but he was doing his absolute best not to think about her right now), but the effects of her reign of terror remained.  He sent servants to the lower town to inform the people they were safe again.  He went to Geoffrey to ensure there were no legalistic or appearance issues from Morgana’s crowning.  He tracked down the mason to see to reconstruction of the destroyed chamber.  He did a tour of the west hall to make sure his people were being properly tended to.

Then, finally, he went to the king’s chambers to check on his father’s health.  Arthur hadn’t seen any severe physical injuries, but it was clear something had happened to his once proud father.

Gaius was indeed at the king’s side, coaxing him to take a spoonful of soup with little success.  Both men looked defeated, and Uther barely looked like he was even alive.

“Father.”  Arthur remained standing at his father’s side, wanting to appear as strong as he could for him.  “I’ve seen to our defences, and the people are being cared for.  Lord Monmouth says your position on the throne is secure.”  He didn’t bring up the reason why it hadn’t been.  Uther had been through enough without Arthur rubbing salt into the wounds.

His father didn’t respond.  He didn’t even turn to look at him, his eyes simply continuing to stare listlessly at the air in front of him.

“Father?  Can you hear me?”  Uther had been acting strangely down in the cells as well, but as least he had spoken.  “Gaius?  What’s wrong with him?”

Gaius sighed and set down his bowl.  He beckoned Arthur over to the window.  “The best I can tell you, sire, is that he is suffering from a broken heart.”

Arthur could relate.  “It’s not his fault.  He knows that, right?”

There was a look in Gaius’s eye that hinted he didn’t completely agree with that statement, but Arthur chose to let it go.  “I seem to remember someone else who needed to be convinced of that not too long ago.”

Everything Arthur had been trying to keep at bay broke through his barriers and flooded back into his mind.  “How could she do this to us, Gaius?  She was like a sister to me.  She _is_ a sister to me.”  He couldn’t help flicking his gaze over to his father.

“I cannot tell you what tipped the scales, Arthur.  But please try not to judge either of them too harshly.  Your father was only trying to protect you both, and Morgana… a life of fear changes a person in more ways than anyone can control.”

A life of fear.  Morgana had been afraid of him?  She had to know Arthur would do anything for her!  And Uther, he had given her the world.  No, it had to be the magic.  Sorcery had twisted her mind and heart and turned her to evil.  This wasn’t the Morgana he had loved.  This was a witch.

“Sire, I need you to be prepared.  I have known your father for a long time, and I have seen this state before.”  Arthur was sure he didn’t want to hear this, but Gaius ploughed on.  “When your mother died, the king fell into this same near catatonic state.  He came out of it after a month, but you know well what happened next.”

“The Great Purge.”

Gaius nodded.  “We must be prepared for the possibility that when he recovers from this, he will tear up the countryside with a vengeance searching for her.  By the same token, there is a chance he will not recover at all.”

Arthur couldn’t handle this right now.  He wasn’t sure he could handle it ever.  Part of him wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and just shut down.  But there was that voice again, insisting that was the coward’s way out.  A true king faced his problems.

Not that he blamed his father.  There was only so much any man could take.

“Where’s Merlin?” he asked instead.  “Lancelot said he was with you.”

Gaius waved a hand towards the other side of the partition.  “He had better be asleep over by the fire.  The poor boy took a vicious blow to the head during the fighting.  I tried to send him away to rest, but he wouldn’t budge.”

Arthur shifted uncomfortably as he recalled his initial fury towards his manservant.  “When he wakes you can tell him he can have tomorrow off to recover.”

“Actually, sire, as you know it’s best to wake those with head trauma every once in a while to ensure there’s no progressing damage.  If Merlin truly is asleep, he’s due for a check in.  Go ahead, just make sure to ask him a few questions to test his cognition.”

Arthur cautiously walked over towards Merlin.  The servant was curled up in one of the king’s large chairs, fidgeting restlessly in his sleep, face screwed up in displeasure.  The obvious discomfort made Arthur feel less guilty about waking him.

“Merlin.”  Arthur gently shook his shoulder.  “Come on, you lazy idiot.  Time to get to work.”

Merlin groaned and cracked one eye open.  “Go ‘way.  Sleeping.”

“Yes, yes.  Much as I hate to interrupt your beauty sleep, Gaius says he wants to make sure you haven’t scrambled your brains too badly.  I tried to tell him there was nothing up there to damage, but…” Arthur dodged a feeble swat.  “So tell me, what’s your mother’s name?”

Merlin glared at him petulantly, but yawned, “Hunith.”

“Where are you from?”

“Ealdor.”

“And where are you now?”

“Talking to a prat.”

“ _Mer_ lin…”

“Camelot.  Can I go back to sleep now?”

“Fine, but not here.” Arthur reached down to tug him to his feet.  “It makes my spine hurt just to look at you.”

Merlin whined and moaned, leaning heavily on Arthur’s shoulder.  Arthur made no move to dislodge him.  “But it’s so far back to Gaius’s chambers!  And there are _stairs_ ,” he protested, as if stairs were worse than poison.

“Don’t be ridiculous.  My chambers are much closer. Just have to let Gaius know I’m kidnapping you.”

Gaius popped his head round the corner.  “Go on, then.  Just keep waking him through the night to check on him.”

“Should he be so… floppy?”  Arthur hefted Merlin up as he’d started to droop.

“He’s just tired.  It’s very common for someone with a concussion.  Besides, neither of you have gotten much sleep the last few days.”

Wasn’t that the truth.  Bidding Gaius goodnight, Arthur dragged Merlin through the castle to his chambers.  The second Arthur shoved him onto the bed, Merlin curled up with his head on one of the pillows, already fast asleep again.  Arthur tucked him in gently, brushing his hair out of his eyes and feeling along his scalp until he found the egg-sized bump.  “How did you manage this one?”

There was a knock on his door.  Arthur sagged.  Couldn’t he just have one brief moment of peace?  He forced himself to straighten and smoothed his tired face.  “Come in.”

Lancelot peeked his head in.  “Sire?  I need to speak with- oh.”  His eyes widened as he caught sight of Merlin in the prince’s bed.

“What is it, Sir Lancelot?  Is there trouble with the men?”

“No, sire, nothing like that.  It’s just…” his gaze flicked to Merlin again.  “I must apologize, sire.  Earlier, when I told you my story, I’m afraid I lied.”

“You lied?” said Arthur flatly.  “About which part?”

“About my part, sire.  Rather, about what my part in the story entailed.  You see, it was not I who destroyed the Cup of Life.  It was Merlin.  He was also the one who defeated Morgause.”

“Merlin.  You’re trying to tell me _Merlin_ killed Morgause.”  Arthur wasn’t sure if he was amused by the notion or annoyed Lancelot was wasting his time like this.

But Lancelot just nodded earnestly.  “He asked me not to tell you; which is why I put forth myself as the victor, but I cannot take credit for something I did not do.  Not again,” he added softly.

“How exactly did _Merlin_ defeat a sorceress?”

“He’s a lot braver than he lets on, sire.”

“A lot stupider, too.”  Arthur glared at the sleeping man.  Merlin wasn’t trained for combat.  Arthur had seen him attempt to spar during practices, and a _child_ could easily disarm him.  “He could have gotten himself killed!”

“He nearly did.”

Arthur winced at the truth of that statement.  It seemed he owed Merlin a lot more than just a day off.  “Thank you, Lancelot, for telling me the truth.  You’re dismissed for the night.”

The knight bowed and left.  Arthur collapsed onto the bed.  Merlin snuffled and shifted closer, reaching out a searching hand automatically.  Without thinking, Arthur took it.  “You’re an idiot; you know that, right?”

Merlin just snorted in his sleep and tugged Arthur’s hand until he had the prince’s arm cradled against his chest.  Arthur didn’t bother to fight it, crawling under the covers still in his day clothes and letting Merlin shuffle over until he was pressed against his side.

“But you’re my idiot, aren’t you.”


End file.
